Sending Sarfaraz Ahmed back sends wrong signals to Pakistan team: former pacer Sarfraz Nawaz

Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed has had an indifferent time of late in international cricket. During the second ODI of Pakistan’s three-match series against South Africa at the Kingsmead in Durban, Ahmed was heard saying some words to all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo when the latter was batting during the run-chase. Later those words were termed as ‘racist’.

Subsequently, he was slapped with a four-match suspension by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that meant that he could only have played the final T20I on the tour. He was eventually called back to his home country on an immediate basis. The experienced Shoaib Malik replaced him as the captain in the Pink ODI at the iconic Wanderers in Johannesburg.

Tough times for Sarfaraz

Mohammad Rizwan was drafted in as the replacement wicketkeeper. However, former Pakistan weather Sarfraz Nawaz reckons that calling Sarfraz back doesn’t send the right signals to the team by any stretch of the imagination. “This would give wrong signals to the team and the players about his (Sarfraz’s) future in the team,” Nawaz was quoted as saying in Dawn.

Sarfaraz’s captaincy also came under the scanner in the last year as he could only lead the national team to one ODI series victory against Zimbabwe. Many also reckon that he should step down from at least one format in order to manage his workload.

Pakistan are currently ICC’s number five ranked ODI team. Nawaz also talked about how Malik had to step down as the captain amidst match-fixing suspicion during the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

“Malik had to quit the captaincy of Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League when an English cricketer raised doubts over his certain decisions during a match. On ano­ther occasion, Malik while leading Sialkot Stall­ions, lost a domestic T20 match deliberately and also admitted it in the post-match talk,” he added.

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.